Oslo Front Door Ash Problem

[downeast]

Now for something competely different: Mr. KnowAll needs some help. hh:

While our Jotul Oslo is an efficient heater, side door loaded, the front door pours ash out when opened. Brushing the ashes away from the door, or cleaning the ashes around it before opening doesn't avoid the spilling of ashes over the front lip, into the air control, and hearth.
It is a bad design in this case. The front is opened only for occasional ceramic "glass" cleaning, repair, open fire romance :roll: , or fortnightly ( just showing off :red: ) cleanout.
Have any Oslo users found a way to avoid this problem ? It can't be a difficult engineering re-design, but how about some kind of ingenious fix from the Oslo crew here ?

 

[Hanko]

that the only complaint Ihave about the Oslo. Just dont open the front door unless its time for glass cleaning. Pain in the ass isnt it?

 

[fugazi42]

Same here- I've opened the front door maybe once or twice since I installed the stove. That's probably my only complaint with the stove.

Josh

 

[Valhalla]

This is a common issue with many front door stoves. You have a side loader door, so enjoy that neat feature. Proving that form does not always follow function.

Come on, a reality check here for all of us, as burning wood creates ash in any heating device, so a little cleanup is always necessary. Then to enjoy the warmth.

 

[downeast]

C'mon guys, you can do better. So could Jotul: the Oslo door is PITAville.
I need a fix....now. %-P

 

[downeast]

This is a common issue with many front door stoves.

NOT

You have a side loader door, so enjoy that neat feature. Proving that form does not always follow function.

Come on, a reality check here for all of us, as burning wood creates ash in any heating device, so a little cleanup is always necessary. Then to enjoy the warmth.

Whoa here--this is a design flaw, not a "little cleanup". Most front loaders do not have this much ash buildup.

 

[Valhalla]

That bad! Wow. How about shoveling some ash out of the side door first? Or adding a short piece of sheet metal or steel lip inside of the front doors?

 

[gpcollen1]

It sounds like I would be doing two things with that stove:

1 - scooping ash from the side and using an ash vac to clean it out a bit prior to opening door

2 - cracking the front door open a few times in hopes that the rush of air would clear it a bit

I don't think you can have it both ways my friend - or at least it sounds like you cannot without some ash management for sure.

Any pics of the monster Ash...

EDIT: minor slip of the lip - side...front...depends on where you are standing...

 

[Valhalla]

OK downeast guy,

I would, that is if owned one of these fine Norwegian (but made in Maine?) beauties possibly hand forge out of steel a removable front lip to sit inside the front doors. I would start with a ruler and begin with a few sketches and make a few cardboard/wood mock-ups (on a cold stove).

Or... shovel first from the side door. Got a local blacksmith?

Good luck.

 

[downeast]

That bad! Wow. How about shoveling some ash out of the side door first? Or adding a short piece of sheet metal or steel lip inside of the front doors?

See above post for de-ashing. Sheet metal would not last long...


It sounds like I would be doing two things with that stove:
1 - scooping ash from the front and using an ash vac to clean it out a bit prior to opening door

We heat with wood; playing with another appliance doubles the PITA factor

2 - cracking the front door open a few times in hopes that the rush of air would clear it a bit

C'mon now, cracking the door pours ash. Read above

I don’t think you can have it both ways my friend - or at least it sounds like you cannot without some ash management for sure.

I can have it all ways. In fact I will and do. When you heat with wood and have for a long long time, "ash management" is not what one wants.

Any pics of the monster Ash…

Sorry, we are not of the dude time, only recently getting a digicam with little time to figure out downloading jpegs, and NO cell phone--no towers in a line of sight in Downeast Paradise. Though we both used PC's in university and companies since the origin of PC's ( ancien regime of the 70's-80's from Big Iron Fortran Punchcards to DOS ) there is the delightful Luddite in us. Bless me.

SOOOOOO: solutions ?

 

[Valhalla]

OK downeast guy,

I would, that is if owned one of these fine Norwegian (but made in Maine?) beauties possibly hand forge out of steel a removable front lip to sit inside the front doors. I would start with a ruler and begin with a few sketches and make a few cardboard/wood mock-ups (on a cold stove).

Or... shovel first from the side door. Got a local blacksmith?

Good luck.

Hi downeast,

If you don't want to try the above ideas, you can sell this dirty, ash covered stove to me, or... just sweep up each time you open the front doors. Better yet, don't open them, just use the side door.

Enjoy the warmth and this heating season, and also keep a broom handy. Procedural changes sometimes eliminate the need for any re-engineering.

 

[Hanko]

thats what i said, dont open the front door, I dont, no mess no fuss.

 

[Valhalla]

Yes, but our wood burner friend from Maine seems to be passionate about opening it!

 

[bluewater_1993]

My F400 does this, and the front loading door is all I have. I've purchased a small dustpan that I keep next to the stove to do a quick sweep up each time I get ashes falling out. I've also learned to place the wood better in the stove so that the wood will fall forward less (although I couldn't eliminate it completely). The last thing I've been doing is to remove ashes from the stove more frequently so that there is less of a buildup that made it easier for the ashes to fall out. I hope a couple of these items help you out.

 

[Hanko]

Ya I see that, dont you wish all lifes little quirks were that simple.

 

[Valhalla]

I repeat below:

Procedural changes sometimes eliminate the need for any re-engineering.

Enjoy your wood burners of all types and brands, even those ash covered ones from Norway (or Maine made), and do keep warm this winter! Cheers.

 

[branchburner]

While "live with it and be thankful for what you have" is sound advice for all kinds of life's little problems, it is always nice to search for a fix. Even if it doesn't work out, you learn something.
So I'll plant a seed and walk away: I have no idea how to do this (or even if you could), but what about making some sort of an ash lip from castable refractory material? I remember seeing some threads on making your own custom pieces (maybe Gordo's VC threads?).
At the very least, you've helped me out - I was considering that stove. I would never want to buy a stove that is so poorly designed that ashes fall out the front when you open the door. That would drive me nuts. It says to me that they designed a door not to be used as a properly functional door.
I will say, a good case for being thankful for what you have and calling it a day is that any modification you make to your stove may void its warranty and/or adversely effect its operation.

 

[gpcollen1]

At the very least, you've helped me out - I was considering that stove. I would never want to buy a stove that is so poorly designed that ashes fall out the front when you open the door. That would drive me nuts. It says to me that they designed a door not to be used as a properly functional door.
I will say, a good case for being thankful for what you have and calling it a day is that any modification you make to your stove may void its warranty and/or adversely effect its operation.

They have designed this stove with 2 doors and it is nice to have an option. In general, I think that most stoves do not end up with mountains of ash in front of their one door. The ash does pile up on the 3 other sides of the firebox, however. So now you have a stove with 2 doors and expect it to not have any ash build up on 2 sides of the firebox?? Does not seem to make sense.

Now I know the design and size of the firebox will dictate where the ash falls to an extent - but how much wood we put in that burner and how we load it has a pretty big impact on where the ash ends up. I do not have this stove but do expect that when you usually load from a side load door and then go to open up the front door - you may expect some ash.

 

[BrotherBart]

Quit packing it so full using that nifty side door that ash piles up against the front door/glass. ;-)

 

[branchburner]

They have designed this stove with 2 doors and it is nice to have an option. So now you have a stove with 2 doors and expect it to not have any ash build up on 2 sides of the firebox?? I do not have this stove but do expect that when you usually load from a side load door and then go to open up the front door - you may expect some ash.

I don't have this stove either, so I can only go by what I read and then use my imagination.

My first stove experience was with a VC Defiant 30 years ago, side loader with front doors. Sure, a few crumbs fell out if you opened the front, you'd expect some ash - but not "the front door pours ash out when opened. Brushing the ashes away from the door, or cleaning the ashes around it before opening doesn’t avoid the spilling of ashes over the front lip, into the air control, and hearth".

Doesn't sound right, and if they could design a stove 30 years ago to not do this, they could do it now. They have designed this stove with 2 doors and one of the options doesn't work to its full potential. No big deal, unless it's a big deal to the stove owner. Me, I could care less- my hearth is covered with ash and sawdust and bark (Gee, that isn't combustible, is it?). But that's just me - I'm a slob.

I agree with the general sentiment of this thread, be thankful for what you got. Everything has its strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes (actually, most times) you gotta take the bad with the good.

I also agree it's nice to have an option - that's why I got a top-loader with front doors.

 

[downeast]

Appreciate all the cute but not-ready-for-prime-time ersatz solutions. The cardboard template idea iis close---may try something. Thx.

Just so you all know: on a scale of significance from 1 to 10, the Oslo front door problem is a very low PITA 2 to 3. It's a super stove for what we use it for : heating.
The 2-3 scale is a "wouldn't it be nice if......" And maybe one more experienced with THIS stove, or a very bright engineering oriented brain could offer a practical solution. Please read what was written: the front door is used rarely, perhaps Fortnightly (love to try out those Brit terms) for maintenance, ceramic cleaning, romance....not necessarily in that order.
And please, no Maine funnies...we do and can strike back in spades, e.g. the interbreeding problems in places like Virginia. That man from VA doesn't know ___ about this stove; the ashes pile up by the from door no matter how it is loaded or burnt. We don need no stinkin.................
Stihl looking.............

 

[little river]

Definitely a design flaw. I don't know about all stoves with side loader options, but the VC I We tried a row of fire brick along the front but they just fell out with the ash. Part of the reason we bought it was because it is one of left side loading option, almost all of the rest load from the right. I open the front whenever I do a thorough ash cleaning. I lay an old damp towel along the lip first and then when its all said ad done fold up the towel and take it outside and shake and rinse it. . A custom welded/fit angle iron like piece would help but you would still get some trapped ash. The better qauity wood, the less fluffy ash.

 

[Valhalla]

All stove modification solutions are ersatz, so choose wisely as to what is really important to you.

 

[ansehnlich1]

I rarely open the front door of my Oslo.....and I don't care what anybody says, it's a friggin' AWESOME stove.

Ha, my sister in law was gonna help out last year when I wasn't home, I walked in after the fact, and I just KNEW she opened the front door, as the entire ash mess was not cleaned up, haha, she cleaned it up best she could, but it was obvious she dumped a load out the front door, uh huh, yeah she did!

If you burn like me, and got a front door, guarantee ash is coming out of it if you open it

The Oslo has a gap between the inner iron lip and the front door glass, its a half inch or so deep (I ain't going to measure it) and maybe 3/8 inch wide.

Here's what I do prior to opening the front door, I got me a nice little 2 inch paint brush, and I use it to reach in there and sweep most that ash away from the front door and out of the gap before opening, problem nearly solved!

That little paintbrush also works wonders at keeping the glass clean, I brush it off when the stove is relatively cool, put on the big stove glove, reach in there, and brush 'er off, no problem.

 

[downeast]

I rarely open the front door of my Oslo.....and I don't care what anybody says, it's a friggin' AWESOME stove.
Ha, my sister in law was gonna help out last year when I wasn't home, I walked in after the fact, and I just KNEW she opened the front door, as the entire ash mess was not cleaned up, haha, she cleaned it up best she could, but it was obvious she dumped a load out the front door, uh huh, yeah she did!
If you burn like me, and got a front door, guarantee ash is coming out of it if you open it
The Oslo has a gap between the inner iron lip and the front door glass, its a half inch or so deep (I ain't going to measure it) and maybe 3/8 inch wide.
Here's what I do prior to opening the front door, I got me a nice little 2 inch paint brush, and I use it to reach in there and sweep most that ash away from the front door and out of the gap before opening, problem nearly solved!
That little paintbrush also works wonders at keeping the glass clean, I brush it off when the stove is relatively cool, put on the big stove glove, reach in there, and brush 'er off, no problem.

Not too shabby idea. Neat. Almost...but no cigar. Hog bristle or virgin polyester ? Sash or flat ?

We don't care about the ceramic glass being clean; it's a nice to do, but heating is what the Oslo does for us. That space behind the door is for air flow to supposedly keep the clear ceramic clean. They all black up after a day or two of heating anyhow, so usually it is ignored until a stove cleaning is done. The Encore front doors ( double door ) are designed not to spill ash, and don't.

Stihl, a not so elegant design for such a well engineered and beautiful heater like the Oslo.

More ideas ?

Jotul techs...are you around ? I know you are lurking. :lol: